Progress toward healing a two-year-old split within the Board of Deputies of British Jews by the withdrawal of the Sephardic and Reform communities was revealed here today when the Board ratified an agreement providing for the return of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogues.
Action on the agreement with the Liberal Reform movement was held up, pending clarification of several religious principles. Dr. Abraham Cohen, who became president of the Board following the resignation of Prof. Selig Brodetsky who went to Israel to head the Hebrew University, has been active in bringing about a healing of the breach. He pleaded for unity today, pointing out that the resurgence of Nazism in Germany must be met by the strongest possible Jewish front.
A report by the Board’s foreign affaire committee revealed that the British Government has pledged not to force the emigration of any Iraqi Jews now in Britain as long as present conditions continue in Iraq. With regard to Germany, the Board adopted the following resolution:
“The Board of Deputies of British Jews notes with concern the widespread and deep-rooted character of Nazism in Germany, as demonstrated by the success in the recant Lower Saxony Parliamentary elections of the Socialist Reichepartei, which is modelled on the methods and spirit of Hitler’s Nazi party. The Board urges His Majesty’s Government to take immediate steps in view of the outlawing of parties and movements in Germany which aim to destroy the democratic way of life, and which are likely to initiate a new wave of religious and racial discrimination and prove a menace to the peace of the world.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
